Posted on 05/17/2005 8:56:41 AM PDT by missyme
If there's one thing Europeans and U.S. film critics can spot a galaxy away, it's hatred of President Bush's policies.
Actually, some are claiming to see traces of Bush animosity in George Lucas' latest flick, "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith," where Lucas may have stuck in an anti-U.S. military policy message.
When you think about it, it makes sense that somebody at the Cannes Film Festival would step up and toss the Europeans some red meat since Michael Moore wasn't around this year to dish his documentary dog chow.
Apparently, the Cannes audience noticed similarities between Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side coupled with the cinematic rise of a warmongering emperor and President Bush's foreign policy approach.
Newsweek's David Ansen saw a resemblance. He wrote: "It's hard not to feel that Lucas's engagement with this story has a contemporary urgency, as line after pointed line invites us to see a parallel with today's wartime climate. As the Senate cedes power to Palpatine under the guise of intergalactic security, Natalie Portman's Princess Padme exclaims bitterly, 'So this is how liberty dies -- with thunderous applause.'"
Before Anakin (played by Hayden Christensen) transforms into Darth Vader, he declares, "If you're not with me, then you're my enemy." The line is reminiscent of Bush's post-Sept. 11 statement, "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."
And Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Ewan McGregor) explains that "only a Sith Lord deals in absolutes."
While at a Cannes news conference, Lucas said: "I hope this doesn't come true in our country. Maybe the film will waken people to the situation."
In case there was any confusion as to where Lucas stands, politically speaking, he made his proclivity clear, saying, "We were just funding Saddam Hussein and giving him weapons of mass destruction. We didn't think of him as an enemy at that time. We were going after Iran and using him as our surrogate, just as we were doing in Vietnam. ... The parallels between what we did in Vietnam and what we're doing in Iraq now are unbelievable."
Lucas added: "You sort of see these recurring themes where a democracy turns itself into a dictatorship, and it always seems to happen kind of in the same way, with the same kinds of issues, and threats from the outside, needing more control. A democratic body, a senate, not being able to function properly because everybody's squabbling, there's corruption."
The Left Coast Report says that while it's true Lucas is a typical Hollywood lib, Europeans hate us so much these days they see anti-Bush messages in "House of Wax."
"If I remember right even Jesus said something similiar."
I always thought he was a little anti-bush </sarcasim>
Luke Starkiller? lol!
I think there are T-Shirt sales in that one.
I'm still gonna see this movie. It's the only Star Wars we're ever going to get. This is the finale, folks. It's worth at least one viewing.
ROFL!!!!
Lucas claims that he planned to make Vader Luke's father before he wrote ANH, but he considered changing his mind after the movie became a blockbuster because he thought it might be controversial.
Got news for you. There hasn't been a Star Wars movie worth seeing since Empire Strikes Back! The whole series since Lucas got back into it has been nothing but a CGI glorified mess, where cool computer generated images is supposed to make up for lack of plot and character.
wow... Obi-Wan stands self-exposed as a closet Sith Lord. The irony...
ah, the Force is strong in you: you beat me to it.
Here's some highlights from the script... Shark Lied, People Died! We're going to need a bigger vote... errrr, boat! BTW, the shark doesn't die in this movie, the residents of Amity all die because...
it's a movie.
yep.
I *do* hope JarJar suffers the fate of a frog in a blender. then the circle shall be complete.
portmans character & the jedi were seemingly ok with slavery and etc...
perhaps the parallels are being drawn with 'the republic' & 'islam' and how supposedly 'free' the muslims were before the fundamentalists became so influential?
HAHA..LOL...
Will send script to Spielberg!
That was the character's name in the early drafts of the first movie's script:
"THE STAR WARS"
From The Adventures of Luke Starkiller
By: George Lucas
Third Draft
August 1, 1975
Lucasfilm Limited
"... and in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as The Son of The Suns."
Journal of the Whills, 3:127
"THE STAR WARS"
FADE IN:
1. EXT. SPACE
A vast sea of star serves as the backdrop for the MAIN TITLE, which is followed by a ROLL UP:
The REPUBLIC GALACTICA is dead. Ruthless trader barons, driven by greed and the lust for power, have replaced enlightenment with oppression, and "rule by the people" with the FIRST GALACTIC EMPIRE. For over a thousand years, generations of JEDI KNIGHTS were the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy. Now these legendary warriors are all but extinct. One by one they have been hunted down and destroyed by the sinister agents of the Emperor: the DARK LORDS OF THE SITH. It is a period of civil wars. Rebel Armies, striking from fortresses hidden deep within the Great Rift, have won a crushing victory over the powerful Imperial Starfleet. The Emperor knows that one more such defeat will bring a thousand more solar systems into the rebellion, and Imperial control of the Outland systems could be lost forever. To crush the rebellion once and for all, the Emperor has sent one of his most ferocious Dark Lords to find the secret rebel strongholds and destroy them...
**************
"Galactica", hmm? So *that's* why Lucas sued Glen Larson.
Ok 20 years ago. Sue me.
Please don't tell me Lucas made Episode 3 into a political statement? I want to see the movie for entertainment value, not to be propogandized.
Whatever happened to going to a movie just to enjoy the movie, especially a swashbuckling fantasy like Star Wars?
Why do some people feel the need to politicize every facet of everything?
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